elephants make me happy

Of course it's been an entire month since I've blogged last. Of course. Whelp, that's the way February went, I suppose! This doesn't mean I haven't been busy knitting, because you know THAT can't be true!

It seems there are many babies about to be born. One to Owen's grade 1 teacher. He had such fun last year in her class, and so a hand knit had to be made :)

This has been done for quite some time, but as we only just recently gifted it, I didn't want photos floating around before that happened. Now it's safe!

This is the first time I've knit the MILO vest. And it certainly won't be the last! What a fantastic construction! I had such a good time knitting it. It's very quick, and allows for so many different variations. As the gender of this baby was going to be a surprise, I knew I didn't want to do the traditional yellow or whatever. Actually, I don't think people do the pastel yellow or purple or greens anymore... do they?

Anyways, I had some Mineville Wool stashed away for the perfect knit, and this was going to be it :) I sadly wish that I had scooped up more of this yarn while I had the chance as I'm pretty sure this base is no longer available. It's 100% merino, machine washable (which is perfect for a tired parent) and is a DK. I suppose this being a coveted yarn in my stash  makes this gift that much more special. :)

So the details:
Milo by Georgie Nicholson (I knit the 9 mos size)
Yarn: Mineville Wool Project dk in Cauldron & Bright Moss
Needles: US 4/3.5mm & US 5/3.75mm

I love it! Like I said, it allows for so many different variations once the yoke is completed. For this particular vest, I took advantage of the blank slate, and decided to put in elephants. How cute! This teacher loves the colour green, so I knew I wanted to incorporate a bit into it. Apparently she also grows big babies, so I decided to knit up the 9 month size. This way babe will surely have some time to wear it.  (I've decided that newborn handknits, though absolutely adorable, get so little wear out of them.. and you can't be sure that the baby born will be small enough... so if I'm gifting a handknit, particularly a garment,  I'd like to see some use out of it..  that nixes the nb size).

The pattern is very clear, with so many different sizes to choose from. I do suggest you highlight the size you are working on, just to make those numbers stand out. And I did take the designer's advice in going down in needle size for the garter yoke. I like to know that the vest will fit snugly, and garter has a lot of give, so this worked out just perfect in sizing.

The bottom row of elephants ended up puckering just ever so slightly, which kind of bothered me. I must have just tugged on the CC a little bit. So that would be something I'd look out for in the future. Of course, this won't be noticeable once babe is wearing it.

And can we just take a little minute to ohh and aaah over these adorable booties? I know you've seen them before, because I blogged about them in my last post. But surely they deserve another squeal of cuteness!


Have you knit the Milo vest before? Do you have a go-to for baby booties? 
I thoroughly enjoyed this gift knit, which is definitely a good thing, as it seems there are many friends having babies! It's a good time to be a knitter. xo